SERPENTS. 381 



position, their slow mode of progression, the extreme 

 sluggishness of all their movements, would naturally 

 render their pursuit of active animals unavailing ; but 

 gifted with the utmost patience, they calmly wait 

 till chance brings within their reach the creatures des- 

 tined for their food. When these approach, or when 

 disturbed by an enemy, they display their formidable 

 powers. They raise their heads erect, open their 

 mouth so wide, that their jaws form an obtuse angle, 

 they project their fangs, their body uncoils like a 

 loosened spring, and the serpent, aiding the sudden 

 assault by resting upon its tail, darts at a single 

 bound upon its victim to inflict the fatal wound," 



" And hurls at once its venom and its length," 



The art of the chemist has not succeeded in ex- 

 tracting from the most deadly substances a poison so 

 potent as that with which they are gifted. Its effect 

 is almost instantaneous, from thirty seconds to two 

 minutes is the brief time required for its operation, 

 so fearful, so merciful is its mortal virulence when 

 employed against the small animals that constitute 

 the ordinary food of these reptiles. It is in tropical 

 climates that the poisonous serpents thrive. They 

 swarm in Surinam, in French Guiana, in Peru, in 

 Brazil ; and in the neighbourhood of the lower 

 Orinoco they are so abundant, that when the natives 

 set fire to the brushwood and grass with which the 

 country is covered, whole armies of formidable 

 species sally forth in crowded ranks, to the number 

 of thousands at a time, putting all to flight before 

 them. In cold countries only a few are to be found 

 in a large extent of territory they grow scarce as 

 we go north, and totally disappear in the polar 

 regions. 



In the Venomous Serpents the teeth of the upper 

 jaw are generally deficient, or very small, with the ex- 

 ception of two of large size, which constitute, perhaps, 

 the most terrible weapons met with in the animal 

 creation. These poison teeth, placed one on each side, 



